Tour WNC’s food and farm network

The farms and farmers who feed our community are central to the history and heritage of Western North Carolina. Today’s farms blend generations-old experience with new attitudes, energy and approaches.

And many of our local restaurateurs, grocers and shop owners have been teaming up with them to feature the bounty they produce.

On Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21-22, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) invites the community to get to know these agricultural entrepreneurs by touring any or all of 31 featured local farms in Buncombe, Madison, McDowell, Haywood, Yancey and Henderson counties. ASAP's annual Fall Farm Tour offers a chance to connect with local agriculture in a personal way. Come meet the Round Mountain Creamery goats that produce milk for savory soft cheeses; learn about the importance of pollinators at Wild Mountain Apiaries; check out the heritage-breed hogs at Dry Ridge farm; and quack along with endangered ducklings at Duck Dance Farm. Don't miss this chance to learn more about the lives and land that help sustain us.

In the next nine pages, you’ll get a taste of what’s in store for tour-takers.

For a complete list of participating farms, see the short guide in this issue and go to asapconnections.org.

All advertisers are Appalachian Grown Certified through the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. The Appalachian Grown logo identifies products from family farms in the Southern Appalachians.